Favors
by Kitera
Summary: Darcy looked at the both of them warily. She didn't like the sound of that. There was virtually nothing that Tony Stark couldn't get. If he was trading favors over something like this, she got the impression that it was going to be something nasty. Possibly more than nasty; it was going to end in her flayed alive and her entrails baking while she roasted on a spit screaming.
1. What sort of favor?

**A/N: **This fic is based on a headcannon an acquaintance of mine came up with on Tumblr. It's sort of grown a bit in my head out of that initial headcannon into a multi-chaptered fic. I would like to thank my lovely beta for reading through the first two chapters so quickly and helping me make the chapter flow better. This chapter would be a little more confusing without you dear. I hope every one that reads enjoys the fic. And if you could please leave a review for your thoughts on the fic since this is the first time I'm writing a larger group of characters than simply Darcy and Loki. (And at this moment I am not sure of potential shipping in this fic beyond Jane/Thor and Tony/Pepper.) Thank you.

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**Favors**  
_Chapter 1: What sort of favor?  
_

There was a palpable strangeness when Darcy arrived for work. People that usually greeted her warmly couldn't look away from her fast enough. Others gave her disapproving stares as she went through the daily security checks and scanned her ID for elevator access down to Jane's lab.

No one shared the elevator with her, halting mid-step before spotting she was in it and backpedalling quickly. After the sixth awkward encounter on the second basement, that had now made her five minutes late, Darcy was getting more than a little annoyed as the lift dropped down two more floors. Only the process started again.

After awkward stare number eight, she waited in the wings for person number nine to get on so she could get an answer.

"Would you care to tell me why everyone is running away from me today?" she asked the poor lab rat she'd tricked into sharing the elevator with her.

The poor guy jolted in surprise before giving her body an obvious once over. Her skin crawled in disgust before she crossed her arms over her chest indignantly.

"There is no way that was actually your body," he mumbles and gets off at the next floor before she could punch him once realization dawned on her.

Oh no, he had better not be referring to what she thought he was. The elevator came to a stop at her floor and she got off, her feet moving of their own power toward Jane's lab.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes Miss Lewis," the AI answered immediately.

"Spill."

"I am not aware of what you are referring to."

She stopped, "The hell you don't. Spill or Tony will be spending the next eight weeks working the bugs out of your programming, do you understand me?"

Several long moments passed before JARVIS finally responded, "I would like to first preface this by saying that while your threat has no true effect on me, I fear what your messing with my programming would do to Mr. Stark, and therefore am under duress while I answer."

"Spit it out!" she exclaimed, growing impatient.

"Mr. Stark hacked your email. He was quite amused when he read your emails with your former boyfriend demanding he take the photos down."

For one very brief moment, Darcy couldn't believe that Tony had done that and then she could believe all too easily. That freaking little bastard, hacking her email and then using it to prank her; the man had no sense of privacy. There were laws against that sort of thing, regardless of if he had issues with secrets. Her email was her email and she was sure she had a certain right to privacy, even as a SHIELD employee working in Stark Tower as part of a government contract. Turning on her heel, she strode straight back to the elevator. That man was going to get a piece of her mind. This was not okay.

"Miss Lewis, what are you doing?"

"Giving your dad a piece of my mind. And if you tell him I'm coming, so help me, JARVIS, you will feel my wrath too," she muttered, swiping her ID once more. Boarding the elevator, she stabbed at the button for the 54th floor where Tony's playroom was. Alarms went off and the doors didn't close for a half second.

"JARVIS."

The alarms shut off and the doors slid shut, the elevator jolting into movement a second later.

"I have blocked the notification to all of Mr. Stark's personal devices. Good luck Miss Lewis."

Just like that, Darcy was alone with her thoughts as the elevator rose up the floors. JARVIS must have been rerouting calls to other elevators, as she never once stopped on her way up from the tenth sub basement to the fifty-fourth floor. The AI knew exactly what was at stake then when she was this upset. There was no reason for even the most seasoned SHIELD agent to piss her off as much as Tony freaking Stark had.

Still as the elevator dinged her arrival and the doors slid open, Darcy couldn't help remembering Jane's words a few months back when her ex had posted the pictures on the internet as revenge for her dumping him: _One night's mistake can haunt you for the rest of your life._ When he'd taken those pictures she'd been so sauced it had seemed entirely fine. It was only in the morning that she'd sort of regretted it and then she'd really, really regretted it after the break up. There was a court order in place for him to take them down; apparently, he hadn't. Well, that was definitely going to be taken care of after she'd gotten through with Stark.

She ignored Pepper telling her to hold on and calm down. Honestly, she liked the woman; she was great and tough as nails, but this was Darcy's reputation that was being entirely destroyed by Pepper's boyfriend's prank-happy love for messing with people.

Storming into his office, she didn't even bother checking to see if there was someone else in the room.

"Tony Stark, you are one hell of a son of a bitch. You had no right-" she started coming up short when she caught sight of a full body shot of her naked as the wallpaper of Captain America's laptop. Her eyes went insanely wide as the Captain looked at her briefly before dropping his gaze to anywhere but where she was, his cheeks flaming.

"Funny, JARVIS didn't mention you were coming," Tony muttered looking nonplussed that she was standing before him seething.

"My sincerest apologies sir, but Miss Lewis threatened to leave me incapacitated if I didn't help her surprise you." JARVIS piped up.

She glared at the ceiling half-heartedly, not entirely surprised that the AI would side with its master. JARVIS was practically Tony's child, and children were always going to side with their parents; it was like a requirement.

"I'll just be going. Stark…Miss Lewis." The Captain stammered as he tried to leave the room without looking like he was thoroughly embarrassed.

The door didn't close before Darcy pointed a finger at him, "You are going to take my picture off of Steve's computer. You are going to issue a statement to every damn person you sent those photos to stating they are fake, and then you are going to make sure no one ever finds them ever again. Not even you. Do you understand me?"

"Or what?"

"You really don't want to piss me off further Tony. You might be a billionaire, but you aren't bulletproof and I'm extremely tenacious when I want something."

Tony looked bored with her threats, that somehow she would make him pay for not doing as she demanded. And maybe he had a right to. What could she really do to him that wasn't going to make the public love him more? She was nobody, just a little intern whose reputation was in the shitter because someone a lot higher up on the clearance totem pole thought it would be hilarious to circulate her one single dumb set of nude photos.

Thankfully, Pepper stepped in then, seeming to sense that they were about to enter into one of those epic grudge prank matches that were something of a legend around Stark Tower. Especially, after the last one with Loki ended in flooding only Tony's bedroom.

"Alright Darcy, we'll do as you ask," Tony opened his mouth to say something but she shushed him with a look, "But we need a favor from you in return."

Darcy looked at the both of them warily. She didn't like the sound of that. There was virtually nothing that Tony Stark couldn't get. If he was trading favors over something like this, she got the impression that it was going to be something nasty. Possibly more than nasty; it was going to end in her flayed alive and her entrails baking while she roasted on a spit screaming. Darcy shuddered.

"What sort of favor?"

"How friendly are you with Loki?" Tony asked.


	2. Awkward Introductions

**A/N: **I apologize for taking so long to update. But I'm done with finals so I should have time over the next month to get quite a bit drafted out in that time. Please enjoy the chapter. I'm working on chapter three now so here we go.

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**Two**

"No. Nope. Not happening. He's more insane than you are, and he'll actually flay me alive if he realizes I'm playing games with him. Not to mention he's going to be seriously suspicious if I suddenly start talking to him anyway. So no, the answer is no. Ask me to do something else." Darcy was amazed she managed to stop herself from saying "anything", and opening the door to all kinds of trouble. She could just imagine what sorts of hell Tony could come up with for her if she'd left that open to him.

The smirk on his face seemed to say that he knew exactly what she'd almost said. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Pepper. The red head was clearly the saner one of the two. She at least had some concept of humility; where Stark was one hell of an arrogant prick, she was grounded in practicalities.

"Well your other option at this point is take Steve on a date. The poor boy could use some serious loosening up if you know what I mean."

"Tony…" Pepper warned.

For several long heartbeats, Darcy just stared at the both of them. This was ridiculous, Pepper wasn't supposed to encourage this sort of behavior, she was supposed to be reigning him in, making sure he didn't get himself killed because someone took his self-proclaimed superiority too far.

"And that's it. I take Steve on a date and you do everything I ask?"

"Not quite," Tony pulled his desk chair out and sat down folding his hands together, elbows resting on the desk, "You take Steve on a date and I send out notice that the photos were fake. You'll still owe me a few favors to get the rest of what you want."

"Can I get that in writing?" She asked looking at Pepper. Darcy had the distinct feeling that this was going to end badly for her otherwise. And likely she was still going to have to do that favor of getting cozy with Loki anyway. She pressed her lips in annoyance, "Even if I'd agreed to do the Loki favor I'd still be in this boat wouldn't I?"

Tony's grin widened and he leaned back in his chair, "Not at all. You'd be free and clear and I'd already be setting a worm loose on the internet to eat those photos, princess."

Darcy's fist clenched in annoyance, leave it to Tony Stark to con her into owing him more than one favor.

"You're a bastard. When can I expect to have the agreement in my mailbox?" She asked again looking to Pepper knowing the woman was going to be handling it more than Tony ever was.

"Two hours. I think you should go back to work until then. Jane has been looking for you everywhere." Pepper said swiping a few things from her tablet to Tony's desk, the top lighting up as documents appeared on the screen.

Forcing herself to calm down Darcy nodded and left Tony's office. Plucking her phone from her pants pocket, she found Pepper was right. She had four missed calls, a slew of texts, and two voicemails all from Jane. Getting in the elevator, she leaned back against the wall as she descended back into the dungeon. She was never going to understand why Jane's lab was underground when the bulk of the R&D was on the upper levels of the tower, but she assumed it had something to do with the project being partially funded by SHIELD while Stark supplied space and equipment.

When she finally walked into the lab, now nearly an hour late between stupid people, elevator rides, and her rather frustrating meeting with Tony, she was unsurprised to see Jane pacing impatiently waiting for her to arrive. With the swoosh of the doors Jane's head whipped toward her and the thin line of her lpis said that Darcy was in a lot of trouble. Likely enough trouble that Darcy would be lucky to see the sun anytime soon if Jane got her way. She moved further into the lab and set her back down on her desk chair carefully.

"Where have you been? The last hour has been intense and you weren't here. Do you have any idea how close I was to sending out a search party for you?" Jane questioned her feet moving like rapid fire across the linoleum as she resumed pacing.

"I was having a wonderful chat with Stark, about invading my privacy." Darcy snapped leaning over her chair to log into her terminal before moving to the small kitchenette for the required morning cup of coffee. She was feeling just the tiniest bit jittery now that she was behind on her caffeine intake.

"I'm sorry Darcy, but I did say letting Todd keep those photos was a bad idea didn't I?" Jane quipped slowing only shortly before she zipped over to a printer as it spewed new readings on god only knew what.

"Yeah I know. But he was supposed to have taken them down. There's a court order requiring it."

Jane sighed and pushed her chair over towards Darcy. "So what did you have to do?" Jane asked. Clearly for a woman that spent a large amount of her time with her sights set purely on the heavens she knew that Tony Stark didn't allow things to go without getting something for it. Which meant that Jane also knew that whatever he'd wanted was pretty humiliating or degrading.

"Which offer are we talking about because there were two?"

"Whichever you actually want to talk about?"

"I have to take Captain America-"

"Captain Rogers," Jane corrected.

"On a date," Darcy continued as if Jane hadn't spoken.

Jane paused giving Darcy a look that clearly said there was no way that was going to cover whatever Tony wanted. Otherwise, she didn't look all that surprised by the fact that Tony wanted someone to take poor Captain Rogers out. He'd been trying to get their very straight-laced man out of time to loosen up for nearly ten months now. So far no one was biting until Tony got lucky and there was a desperate girl in his office that didn't want to become a pariah because of his craptastic pranks.

"I still owe him a couple other favors that he hasn't named yet to get all of my demands met…" Darcy admitted with a shrug trying to act as if she wasn't bothered by this at all.

"Okay and that was it?"

"He wanted to know how chummy I was with Loki. I turned that offer down immediately. I guess I should have just said yes since the hazardous nature of that favor would have won all my demands met immediately."

Darcy typed in a sequence of numbers and up popped the file she was working on for Jane the night before. It was mostly a compilation of all the information she needed for a last quarter report to Director Fury on her work attempting to make contact with Asgard via an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. They had to make sure all funds were being used according to project budget and not just disappearing into someone's pocket, or some ridiculous bureaucratic mandate out there said something like that. She missed when it was just her and Jane working in the New Mexican desert. At least out there the only money being wasted was their own and no one was looking over their shoulders looking for a reason to cut their funding.

"Would you have really gone for it had you known that?" Jane asked as she slid back to her desk and started to work passing printouts over as she finished with them for Darcy to input into one of the many spreadsheets that was part of the report.

She shrugged, "Not really sure. Loki's got a nose for when someone is trying to pull something over on him. I probably would get caught just by breathing in the same air as him."

Jane laughed and nodded. As much as Jane loved Thor, she had a certain idea of just how weird and scary his foster-brother could be. Apparently, when they finally returned a few months after the Manhattan incident Loki was all too happy to ruin their rather personal and very private reunion by broadcasting a voice recording all through the building. That was before Darcy had moved in following finding out her apartment had been destroyed in the battle. The room fell silent then as they continued to work.

It wasn't bad working there with Jane. If anything she was learning a ton, and she'd also discovered while there that she had a knack for computers in a way her college days hadn't given her a chance to realize. If anything, she was doing pretty well all things considered. Well if she ignored that one time, she programmed JARVIS to wake Tony up with the theme song to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. That had landed her a month's worth of docked pay for pain and suffering and no amount of pleading with Director Fury that it had been a joke was able to get her out of it.

When lunch arrived, Darcy took the time to print out the agreement Pepper had forwarded to her. It was a simple agreement, stating in no uncertain terms, that Darcy owed Tony Stark three favors, one for each of her demands. Upon the successful completion of one favor, Tony Stark would comply with one of her demands until both parties had been appeased. Satisfied, Darcy signed it and faxed it up to Pepper to fill with legal where Natasha Romanoff was still working as part of her cover alias.

Leaning back in her seat Darcy stretched her hands over her head and let her eyes drift closed. God she was tired after squinting at the screen for so long. Plucking her glasses off her face she rubbed her eyes before dropping her head into her hands. She had to find a way to ask Captain America on a date that would end in his loosening up to Tony's satisfaction. Since there was a semi-true rumor running among agents and employees with the right security clearance that stated the captain couldn't get drunk, she knew that option was out from the start. Pity too since that would have been her first idea too.

A throat cleared near the doorway pulling her from her thoughts. Turning she was surprised to see Steve standing in the doorway. He was still deftly avoiding her gaze and shifting awkwardly in an attempt to stop feeling uncomfortable but he was definitely there.

"Can I help you," She asked with the kindest tone of voice she could manage in an effort to put him at ease.

Finally his eyes found hers and he looked at her head on as he spoke, "Stark said you wanted to see me during your lunch break."

Darcy rolled her eyes and stood picking up her empty cup of coffee as she went intending on getting another cup from the pot in the kitchenette. "I bet he did. Step into my office."

The two walked into the kitchenette and Darcy busied herself with getting another cup of coffee. All the while she let Steve figure out what he wanted to do and get comfortable. There wasn't much point in pressuring him into saying whatever was on his mind. She had enough of a working understanding of the captain to realize he probably needed to make his own decisions according to his own convictions.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I was trying to get Stark to remove your picture when you walked into the office." Steve apologized, finally breaking the silence just as she was turning around. Darcy holding her cup of coffee in both hands as she let the aroma wash over her senses before taking a long sip.

She shrugged, "Whatever, Tony was pretty much an ass when I chewed him out for that and a few other things."

That seemed to perk Steve up considerably knowing he had a an ally against Tony's inappropriate prank. And it pained Darcy knowing she was pretty much going to have to break that little bond of trust. Well just like a band-aid, she might as well get on with it and tear it off. The sooner she could gauge how Steve was going to handle what she said next the better.

"Actually, that brings us to a strange point. Do you have an reservations against going on a date with other SHIELD employees?"

There was quiet again. She was positive that if anyone listened carefully they'd be able to hear crickets chirping over the click of the keys as Jane flew through work. Oh god, Jane probably thought she was despicable going along with this. And that wasn't the point. She didn't even want to do this to the poor guy, but she needed those pictures to come down, they were getting in the way of her fulfilling her duties as an employee of SHIELD.

She glanced at Steve having avoided looking him in the eye when she asked. He was frozen and for one brief moment, Darcy wondered if he'd relapsed into that weird cryogenic state that was still puzzling the biologists upstairs. But in the end Steve came back to life once he got over her question.

"I don't, no. Are you asking me on a date?" His expression was both quizzical and nervous. And that was too freaking cute for Steve's own good. It had the effect of making Darcy want to cuddle him until he realized that it really wasn't that far of a stretch that someone would want to go on a date with him.

All any woman (or gay man) had to do was take one look at Steve to realize he was pretty hot. Add to the physical perfection his old-fashioned personality and gentlemanly tendencies and it was a no brainer why he was the talk of the third floor break room. And here she was asking the guy out when no one ever seemed to have the nerve to do so. Especially when it was a well-known fact that he still had a bit of a bleeding heart for the woman he knew before getting iced and was now slowly creepy toward her death. Something about her brazen invitation didn't feel right when placed next to his missed chance with a former agent.

"Something like that. Would that be so bad? I mean you could use a night on the town sometimes soldier." Okay maybe that was laying it on a little thick to get what she wanted but it would go a long way toward putting them both back at their natural comfort level if he did it. The email still hadn't gone out yet, which lead Darcy to believe Tony was waiting to see proof of them going out before he sent it out. So much for any sign of good faith on Stark's part.

"I don't think I quite follow."

"You're always here. I don't think I've ever seen you leave the Tower. You need to get out, be around people that aren't superspies, paranoid, or partial insane if they aren't all of the above already." Darcy explained taking yet another sip of her coffee to settle herself. Jesus she didn't think the Cap was that dense. But then just about no one talked about how much was going on inside his head, everyone was busy objectifying his studly physical attributes. God it must suck to be in that boat.

"Oh," he shrugged, "I just never really saw the appeal of the world out there."

She made a face. Maybe that was just a side effect of his being frozen in one era and waking up in another. Not experiencing the changes as they came, probably made him even more resistant toward accepting them than if he'd been awake for the advent of computers.

"You have zero interest in anything outside of the tower. You have to be kidding me. There's a whole world out there and you have no interest in any of it?"

"Things aren't exactly as I pictured they would be when I went under."

"Nothing is how people expected it to be seventy years ago. Pretty sure using that as an excuse to lock yourself in here is the lamest of lame decisions in the history of the United States."

Smooth Darcy, like calling Captain America lame was going to help her in getting him to go on a date. Forcing herself to calm down Darcy sighed.

"Sorry about that. I just think sometime you should probably give the outside world a chance. But if you don't want to go out, maybe we could just hang out some time and try this whole thing again, cause I really doubt after insulting you you'd be inclined to go with it."

Steve looked at her seemingly taken aback both by her tirade and apology. But he didn't say anything for a long time. Not that she could blame him. Lifting her cut to her lips again Darcy took a sip and a glance at the clock on the far side on the room said she should probably start walking back to her desk for the daily debate on what to order for lunch. A quick glance at Jane said that she was waiting to do just that while Darcy finished talking with Steve.

"He said you had to do him a favor didn't he?"

Darcy sputtered coffee out of her mouth as she walked. The caffeinated goodness spewing everywhere. Crossing the remainder of the room to put her cup down she went back to the kitchenette for paper towels to clean up the mess.

"What makes you say that?" she asked bending down to wipe up the floor.

"You're trying awfully hard to get me to agree to spend time with you."

It was so matter of fact that she had a hard time believing she was actually talking to the same person that the majority of the agency considered to be the most innocent agent SHIELD had. Honestly, he was a lot quicker on the uptake for some things than anyone ever gave him credit for.

From above she could hear Jane trying not to laugh.

"So not cool Jane." She muttered, "Yeah pretty much." She admitted looking fairly ashamed that she'd actually sunk to such a level.

For only the second time since she found out Tony set her picture as Steve's wallpaper, the captain met her gaze. And while the last had been full with forced reserve, this one was considerably more gentle, almost like he felt bad for her. The idea that Steve pitied her rankled a bit but she tried to hide it.

"I'll think about it Miss Lewis, if that's okay?" he asked.

She nodded mutely and he left the lab.

"So what are we ordering for lunch," Jane asked pulling Darcy back to reality before she had the chance to fly off into the deep dark abyss of what his parting words meant.

"I don't care, you pick today."


	3. And Then There Was Loki

**A/N: **I apologize for the long wait between chapters. This chapter was an absolute pain to write, as I felt like I was running out of steam once I got to it. Not to worry though, I've worked out my writer's block and happily am writing away at Chapter four. Hopefully, I'll be getting it out to my beta before much longer and you can read that once I get through with Chapter five, just to set up a more regular posting schedule. With any luck I'll have a good chunk written already by the time I go back to school in the middle of January. Thank you for your patience. Reviews are love, so please keep them coming. :)

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**Chapter Three: And Then There Was Loki**

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Nearly two weeks passed before Steve made any contact with Darcy again. He didn't come down to the lab though. She got to her desk that Thursday morning to find her email application already dinging with unread mail. Funny since she was sure she'd shut it down when she left the night before. Nevertheless, there it was running regardless. Briefly, she glanced up at the ceiling trying to will her gaze to see through the metal walls and to the fiber-optics that connected JARVIS's main AI core to the rest of the building and glared. If her memory was as accurate about last night as she assumed then JARVIS was involved with why her computer was already running. She remembered hearing that the AI could remote activate just about anything in the building.

Dropping her bag, Darcy sat down and opened the first unread message. It was from Jane explaining that she was in a meeting briefing Director Fury and Darcy was to begin transcribing any data acquired over night. Yawn, talk about boring. She glanced at the ridiculous stack of print outs awaiting her attention and went back to her email for the next unread email. It was an alert from Agent Hill that they were expecting a temporary electrical disturbance around two in the afternoon (or fourteen hundred hours as Agent Hill wrote) when Thor would be returning via tesseract.

The third was the surprising email. It was from Steve and had come in at the ridiculous hour of four thirty that morning. She blanched. There was no decent reason that any person should be awake at that hour, no matter how militarized they'd become. Hell she was sure even the Black Widow slept in sometimes.

Double clicking she read the email quickly before rereading it trying to gauge if what she was seeing actually jived with the Captain she'd only ever spoken to once. The tone was polite enough, so that seemed standard, and the wording had a hand full of those funny anachronisms that fell out of use in the intervening seventy years in favor of new slang. For the most part, it seemed entirely above board but she had the niggling doubt in the back of her mind that maybe this was Stark reminding her that she had made a promise to do certain things and she was taking too long to accomplish the first. If that was the case, Stark needed to get over himself because some things just took time. Rushing the Captain to get back in the world hadn't exactly worked out for SHIELD after they pretended it was still the 1940's. If rumors were true, anyway that's basically how it went down. For an organization of crazy paranoid spies, they had an awful habit of talking about everything. Office gossip apparently was not limited to the typical office world; SHIELD was just as bad if not worse in their rumor mill. Darcy thought that had something to do with the fierce competition Fury encouraged all the agents to live by, so that probably had a good deal to do with it.

She closed Steve's email and gave the stack of print outs a withering look as she crossed the room to retrieve them. If nothing else, she might as well get started before Jane came back and gave her one of those stern looks for slacking. All it ever was in this place was work, work, work. It got boring after awhile and she sometimes caught herself wishing for one of Tony and Loki's epic prank wars to break out to alleviate some of the monotony. She groaned she was not going to even entertain the idea of negotiating changing her deal with Stark, three favors that didn't involve potential physical maiming by a mostly crazy demi-god was preferable to whatever Stark wanted initially.

Returning to her desk Darcy turned on her iPod and got to work.

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Jane returned nearly an hour later, looking more than a bit peeved and that never bode well for anyone. For the moment, thought Darcy kept working waiting for the inevitable blow out that was coming. Considering Thor was due back today for his bi-weekly update with Fury later, she'd want to get it out sooner rather than later so she'd be in a better mood for later. Heaven forbid Jane's bad mood get in the way of a little nookie.

"I can't believe him," Jane finally stated sitting down roughly at her desk and turning to face Darcy over the stack of papers and notebooks.

Darcy lifted her head slowly, "What'd he do this time?"

It was a regular thing these days. Fury was pushing for results, constantly moving up the timetable. If Darcy didn't know better she'd say that Fury and his hoity toity Shadow Council just wanted to throw their weight around, remind people who was in charge. That sort of thing. Not surprising since more often than not Darcy got the impression that they were just a little too predisposed to bullying behavior. Chewing her lower lip Darcy tapped a few keys and turned her attention fully to Jane.

"Working prototype by the end of next month," Jane muttered her fingers moving angrily across the keyboard to pull up the schematics for the prototype generator she'd begun putting together nearly six months ago when they first tried to force Jane into taking short cuts to move the project forward.

JARVIS took things over once the files were open and projected them so both of them could study the plans for a few moments at scale.

"Guess you're going to have to take advantage of Loki's arrival this afternoon."

Saying so was probably a mistake, judging by the look Jane shot her. She was not happy about Loki coming, even if it meant Thor would be on Earth for a little while. Given that she'd just gotten direct orders to start fabricating that prototype alone meant time with Thor was going to have to take a backseat, and that was likely not sitting well with Jane. As it was, they didn't spend nearly enough time together right now.

"Okay, so you aren't looking forward to that."

"You think. Taking the contract was supposed to mean a steady flow of funding for my work, not this. Not G-men forcing us to work faster than_ I_ feel is safe. We don't even know if the prototype and Stark's Arch Reactor are going to mesh to make rolling the project ahead worth the risk. My calculations aren't anywhere near complete enough to warrant this push."

Darcy nodded thankful that for once Jane managed to keep her science nerd in check and used normal people speak to explain what they wanted from her. Jane's tirade brought back partial memories of whispered conversations between Stark and Banner about what SHIELD had been aiming for when they scoffed up Erik for work on some piece of alien technology. They'd been intent on using his work to manufacture weapons or something and that memory sent a shiver down her spine.

"Maybe we should take a break until Thor and Loki get here. You could probably use the time to wind down."

In that moment, the suggestion seemed like the best idea. Jane desperately needed to cool off and Darcy could use the time to think over Steve's email. Something still didn't feel right and Darcy wasn't planning on walking into some sort of prank. She was too smart for that sort of thing.

* * *

At first, the lab was entirely quiet once Darcy suggested a break. It only took about ten minutes before Jane was pacing the floor. The woman never was very good at doing nothing. Jane's inability to be idle was sort of amusing sometimes. Just not when coupled with pent up anger aimed at Director Fury. What she would have given for their usual comfortable silence as Jane worked it out on her own.

After an hour of watching Jane ping-pong around the lab, Darcy decided it was time to kill time with Faebook games. Specifically Bejeweled Blitz and Words with Friends. For the most part, it was mind-numbing enough an activity for her to think about Steve's email without screwing up the game too much. Did she take the chance and meet Captain America for coffee or did she stand him up on the off chance that it was a huge prank sent down by Tony. It was one of those things that were hard to judge.

Glancing over at Jane, she opened her mouth to ask for the scientist's opinion, but quickly changed her mind when Jane turned around to start yet another lap. Yeah she could wait until Jane worked her tension out with Thor. Waiting seemed like the safer route than risking physical maiming in that moment.

As if on cue, the lights flickered and both women froze. The computer's flickered at the influx of electricity and for a moment each scrambled to save whatever work they could before the circuit breakers inevitably shut down from being over capacity. After months of Thor's trips being a regular thing no one in the office had worked out just how much extra energy his trip was going to throw into the electrical system. Sometimes it was enough to make the circuit breakers spark, other times it was barely a blip on the radar; hence Agent Hill's monthly email. It kept people from losing valuable data in the labs after learning the hard way just what sort of effect it could have. Thor's first return had set work back by more than a month in some departments.

Both women secured the lab and headed to the elevator, swiping both their badges they rode up to the lobby to wait for Thor and Loki to escape Fury's clutches. The man was nothing if not adamant that any Asgardian visitor's first stop was his office. It was all sort of creepy, Darcy wondered if Thor realized yet, that the policy was in place so Fury could keep track on Asgard as much as he did the foreign governments of Earth. She did give Thor a little credit that he might have some inkling that such was the case, he might be oafish in appearance, but sometimes he said things that surprised even Jane.

"So you were quiet this morning?" Jane murmured nudging Darcy with her shoulder.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of Jane's friendlier side she gave the scientist a weird look. Okay so, she was magically in a better mood thanks to her beloved's arrival. It was like riding a roller coaster sometimes how quickly Jane cycled from rage because the council wanted to rush her to chill because Thor was back in the same galaxy.

"Yeah, I had stuff to think about."

"Any of that _stuff_ have to do with Captain Rogers?"

Darcy shrugged, "Yeah. He sent me an email this morning. Something about going out for coffee to get to know each other better."

She still had reservations about it. No amount of thinking seemed to help change her mind that there was a chance meeting up with Steve was a really bad idea. And Darcy said as much to Jane while they waited. Right now, she could really use some outside perspective. If nothing else Jane could probably reason out the pros and cons to following through with what the email suggested.

"Well doesn't seem like it could hurt you to actually go. If you're really nervous that Tony's pulling a fast one, you can scout the coffee shop out and bail if it doesn't look like Captain Rogers is going to show up."

Darcy was about to reply when the elevator doors opened again. This time Jane practically burst from her seat as she dashed across the lobby. Across the room, Thor was waiting with his arms open and a jovial smile on his face. Sighing Darcy stood and followed her boss at a more sedate pace. She was still a safe distance away when Thor lifted Jane of her feet in a bone crushing hug.

Coming to a stop before the making out couple, Darcy spotted the lanky form of Thor's adopted brother just beyond. He'd barely even let the elevator before Thor and Jane got involved in the intense liplock.

"Come on Frosty, they're going to be at it a while, might as well get some coffee while they get _reacquainted_."

There was a scaring moment where Darcy realized she actually called Loki Frosty, and said Asgardian sorcerer glared at her so hard that she expected to feel her skin melting off at any moment. Except her skin stayed in place and Loki continued to glare at her just with less ferocity as the making out couple whirled violently so that Jane was pressed up against the wall. In unison, the two raised eyebrows at each other. Someone should really tell them that there was work to be done or to go find an empty room, but it didn't seem like either one was willing in interrupt the couple.

"You mentioned getting some of your mortal swill while they're occupied?" Loki prompted.

"Yeah this way." She answered blinking leading Loki toward another elevator at the back. The cafeteria was in the first sub-basement. She could already see how the dining room was going to react to her entrance. Suffice to say, she was going to be making up a lot of ground in the near future with people. Too late to do anything about it now.

* * *

As predicted, the entire dining room went silent when Darcy walked in with a semi-reformed supervillain at her side. A couple of the peons actually dropped silverware from surprise and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks from embarrassment. This was not supposed to be nearly as mortifying as it was. She'd invited him, without thinking or any kind of consideration for just what sort of reputation suicide associating with Loki would be.

Unlike her the stares and silence didn't faze Loki. Sweeping into the room, he chose a table for two at the back of the cafeteria. She shouldn't be surprised, but she was as he left her there the center of everyone's attention as he settled into the chair against the wall. Their gazes met and she could practically hear him laughing at her, how she froze. You told me to come; his expression seemed to say with an extra helping of princely haughtiness.

Rolling her eyes Darcy got in line for her coffee. If his haughty highness was going to expect she wait on him as a servant he had another thing coming. She did not serve others, at least not in the sense Loki expected. She was an equal, not less than. The sooner the jerk figured that out, the better all things would end this visit.

"What can I get you?" A young woman about her age asked pulling Darcy from her thoughts. Blinking in surprise Darcy shook her head to clear all thoughts of her unwilling companion from her mind.

"One dark roast coffee with cream, sugar, and a shot of espresso," She ordered once she found her voice.

"And a cup of tea…please."

Darcy whirled around her coffee sloshing over the rim of the paper cup, scalding her skin as she stared into emerald eyes. What the hell was he doing all the way over here? She swore she saw him sit across the room. However, his form flickered it was so quick that Darcy might not have caught it if her weren't practically invading her personal space. Tilting her had she looked at him and then walked away to the table she knew Loki had claimed. Even if at that moment, it didn't look as if he were there anymore.

She had just settled into the chair when his form practically melted out of thin air across from her. Obviously, he didn't have the title of Trickster God for no reason. She was just taking a sip of her coffee when she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. Her gaze shot to one of the thousands of cameras in the building and chose to ignore it. Tony could kiss her ass.

"You know just melting out of the air like that is going to get you shot by at least fifteen different people not including any of the internal defenses." She said putting her coffee down and spin it between her hands in an effort to ignore the eyes that were impossibly more focused on them than five minutes before. Leave it to her to get herself into one of the most awkward moments in the history of SHIELD.

Loki gave her a disbelieving look. He seemed way too nonchalant about that sort of thing. Almost as if he doubted that anyone could do any harm to him at all, which was funny because Darcy remembered a story about Hulk swinging him around like a rag-doll after Tony had seven too many drinks and felt like bragging. Whatever if he wanted to play the stony silence card, she could deal with it.

Her cell phone buzzed again and she could swear it echoed through the cafeteria.

"You mortals have such inferior beverages," he muttered his face twisting into a scowl after several long moments of silence.

His comment was so unexpected that she looked up sharply. If she didn't know any better this was the most he'd said since his last visit to Midgard six months ago. And that time had really only included a few taunting remarks to Tony after hand Jane a sheaf of papers toward her research which she then proceeded to drag Darcy away to help analyze and sort.

The air flickered and a goblet of a more suitable beverage for a Prince of Asgard appeared before them. And maybe she was imagining things but he looked almost tired by that little trick as he picked it up. It was almost as if he wasn't sure it would be entirely solid as opposed to an illusion.

"I thought your magic was bound or whatever?" She asked watching him take a long drink. His adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

Her question however was the wrong one as his expression twisted into barely covered anger as he put the golden goblet down once more.

"I am limited not bound, mortal. A simple transfiguration spell is easy enough to accomplish when shifting your substandard tea into Asgardian mead."

She could feel a tension rise in the room. Those staring eyes going from horrified to on alert with the shift in ambience. Darcy didn't dare shift her gaze from Loki, but she didn't need to see the other SHIELD agents to know many of them already had their hands on their side arms. Too many of them were all too willing to put a bullet or clip of bullets into Loki as it was. Even Director Fury's order to leave him to Thor barely restrained them, which was saying a lot for how much hate Loki had garnered. SHIELD was a scarily well-oiled machine with enough discipline that it could put the United States Marine Corps to shame. Sure the organization had it's bad eggs (Shadow Council for starters). But that was going to happen in any organization no matter how well run or disciplined.

Her cell phone vibrated a third time.

"Perhaps you should answer that human, someone seems very intent on contacting you," Loki prompted his eyes dancing in amusement and Darcy could only flush as she fished her cell phone out of her pocket to read the three new text messages.

i2:15PM: Still a no about the whole Loki part of the offer?/i  
i2:18PM: Come on Darce. Dealing with Loki would mean you'd be done faster./i  
i2:23PM: You're no good to me dead, I'd suggest steering clear of talk about magic./i

Darcy rolled her eyes at her phone and tapped out a quick message of her own.

i2:25PM: I'll deal with Captain Rogers thanks. At least I'll get to stay in one piece regardless./i

She put the phone down once the message sent notification flashed across the screen and returned her attention to Loki's grinning façade. He must have an idea of something going on or at the very least, that he was the topic of the three messages.

"Director Fury telling you to get out I presume." He sounded almost bored.

She shook her head only for her cell phone to vibrate a few inches across the table. A glance at the caller id said that this time it was a message from Agent Hill. Apparently, she was being told to do so now.

"I am now. I guess letting a lowly lab-assistant get murdered by a supposedly reformed super-villain isn't on their to-do list today." She shot back as she stood. With a smartass wave, Darcy sauntered away a rank of soldiers closing ranks as she left the room. In the hallway there were two SHIELD agents waiting for her.

"Miss Lewis, Director Fury would like to speak with you." Commando number one informed her and marched off to the elevator. Commando number two stood motionless waiting for her to file in after his partner.

Oops, apparently leading Loki off to slip his security detail wasn't exactly something they looked too highly on. Even if all she did was take him to the cafeteria to get coffee.


End file.
